


Written in the Stars

by soo



Category: Quantum Leap
Genre: M/M, Yuletide, challenge:Yuletide 2004, recipient:Agnes Joseph
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-12-25
Updated: 2004-12-25
Packaged: 2017-10-16 22:14:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/169908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soo/pseuds/soo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just who are the Starcrossed lovers?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Written in the Stars

_"We're talking about the woman I love in my future. I'm here. She's here. We've got a second chance and no one is going to stop me from taking it -- not even you."_

Al groaned and rolled out of bed. Those words kept replaying over and over again in his head and he desperately needed something to drown those words out.

He padded over to the liquor cabinet and poured himself a generous amount of scotch into a tumbler. He took a generous swig and grabbed the bottle to take with him. He settled down on the couch and took another swallow.

So fate, or God, or something had leaped Sam within mere feet of Donna Elysee - the woman who stood him up at the altar. The woman who had broken Sam's heart into a million pieces.

Al closed his eyes, he remembered that day just like it was yesterday.

 _Al rapped on the door of the small anteroom of the church and entered without waiting for a response. He closed the door firmly behind him._

 _"Is she here yet?" Sam asked as he paced the length of the room._

 _Al shook his head. "Not yet, but there's plenty of time." He leaned back against the door. "You know how women are always waiting to the last possible moment to leave."_

 _Sam stopped his pacing and swung around to face him. "Not Donna, she's always early."_

 _"Yeah, but now she has her mother and her bridesmaids with her. All those girls fussing over her hair and makeup. Not to mention their own hair and makeup. It's a wonder any wedding starts on time with that combination."_

 _Sam laughed. "You're right, you're right. Donna always said her mother took forever to get ready."_

 _Al grinned. "Of course, I'm right." He pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and handed it to Sam. "Now clean yourself up and straighten your tie. And I'll go wait outside for her. Once she's here I'll let you know."_

 _"Thanks, Al."_

 _"No problemo, Sammy."_

Al sighed and swallowed the last mouthful of scotch. He opened his eyes and poured himself another round.

The day had gotten worse after that. Hell, who was he kidding? The day just hadn't gotten worse, it had become a nightmare. And the nightmare had continued for a full month after that.

They had searched high and low for Donna, but didn't find her. Her mother and her bridesmaids hadn't a clue to where she had run off to, and all the places that they could think of turned up nothing. Al had even turned to some of his Navy buddies for help and they couldn't track her.

It wasn't until a letter turned up that Al's life began to return to normal. Or at least as normal as it could be when you were trying to put your best friend back together and maintain your own failing marriage.

Al took another sip. Looking back at it now, he could tell that it was then that their relationship became more than just friendship. Though neither one of them knew it at the time.

 _"You know, Al, you don't have to be here."_

 _Al looked up from his cards. "Where else would I be?"_

 _Sam shrugged his shoulders. "Home with Maxine?"_

 _Al sat back in his chair and lit up his cigar. "Maxine will still be there, and you need me right now."_

 _"I..." Sam pushed back from the table they were playing poker at and continued, "I'm fine. Really, I'm fine."_

 _"Sure, you are, Sam, that's why we're playing poker in the middle of the day instead of working on some new equation of yours." Al gestured to Sam's chair. "So let's get back to playing poker." He dropped two cards onto the table and picked up two more. "Besides. I need to win back some of the money that I've lost to you in the past two weeks."_

It had been much later - years later - when they had admitted their feelings for each other. Well, maybe admitted wasn't the right word for it. They sort of just fell into a relationship.

 _"Al?"_

 _"Hello, Doctor Beckett."_

 _Al looked up from the computer he'd been working on to see Sam standing in the doorway with a shocked expression on his face._

 _"You did it, Al! You made Ziggy talk!"_

 _"Well, of course he did, Doctor Beckett."_

 _Al laughed and stood up. "Like he said, of course I did. It was only a matter of time."_

 _"Well, this calls for a celebration - champagne at the very least," Sam said as he entered the office they shared._

 _"I've got that all taken care of." Al pulled out an ice bucket that he'd been hiding under his desk. "Grab the tumblers and we'll toast." Al popped the cork on the champagne._

 _Sam smiled and held up his glass. "To Ziggy's sexy new voice!"_

 _"To us, for creating the biggest, smartest and sexiest computer ever!" Al clinked his glass with Sam's. He took a sip of his champagne and settled down onto the couch._

 _Al looked over at Sam. This was probably one of the happiest moments of his life and all he wanted to do was kiss Sam. He leaned into Sam and hesitated. He wasn't sure what he was doing or even if Sam felt the same way but then the decision was taken away from him when Sam leaned in and kissed him._

 _The kiss started out as tentative but quickly grew hot and heavy. It felt natural to be kissing Sam; he wondered why he waited so long to do it. Moments or maybe minutes later, one of them -- Al wasn't exactly sure who -- pulled away._

 _"What are we doing?"_

 _Al licked his lips and stared into Sam's eyes. "I don't know." All he did know is that he wanted to kiss Sam again. "I want to kiss you again, though."_

 _"Okay."_

 _Al smiled and leaned back in for another kiss._

And now some cosmic doohickey was out there messing with his life - swiss-cheesing Sam's brain so all that he remembered was Donna -- and not remembering what had happened between them. It had been a slap in the face to hear that Sam wanted a second chance - that he wanted to save Donna from herself.

Al downed his glass of scotch and poured himself another one. The worst part of it all was that rule number two of Sam's guidelines was not to tell the time traveler any personal history. Of course, he'd broken this rule already. And now Sam was going to break the first rule, and use time travel to improve his life.

So, there was nothing really holding him back from just reminding Sam that he'd moved on. That Donna wasn't the love of his life anymore.

Nothing but some part of his conscience telling him that it would probably be unethical. That he should just let it play out and see what happens. That if they were meant to be together, then -- after Sam helped Donna -- they would still be together.

Al drank the last of the scotch and set the glass down on the coffee table. This was getting him nowhere, and tomorrow he had to be up and sober for a meeting with Weitzman. He knew Weitzman was just gunning for him to do something wrong and while he Al had an ace up his sleeve he could only play it once.

Al sighed and shuffled off to bed. All that he could do was play it by ear and hope for the best that when it was all said and done they would still be together. He snorted. He was entrusting his life to the very thing that put him into this mess. And wasn't that just a kick in the butt.

  



End file.
